Market Growers > From the Field > Field Report: Flavor and Beauty

Field Report: Flavor and Beauty

by Micaela Colley

The San Francisco Bay Area is a food capital, full of world class, multi-cultural restaurants with year around availability of a great diversity of fine, local, organic produce. For this reason, we have conducted several on-farm trials with Bay Area market growers, many of whom cater to area gourmet chefs, sell at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, and work with the Greenleaf Specialty Produce Company in San Francisco. This fall we showcased some of our favorite Seeds of Change varieties from our on-farm trials at an open house hosted by Greenleaf and invited some of the city's finest chefs to join in a sensory exploration.

Greenleaf, a specialty produce distributor, purchases from local Bay Area growers and supplies organic and local selections to the city's finest gourmet chefs. More than just a delivery service, Greenleaf works to develop chef/grower relationships and educates chefs, growers, and the public about seasonal, local produce. Over the past couple years, produce specialist Paula Linton of Greenleaf has participated in our on-farm trials in search of novel, specialty seed varieties to introduce to their network of growers and chefs. Paula's produce expertise and involvement in our trial evaluations has provided us with valuable feedback on some of our varieties.

At the open house Greenleaf introduced their new Specialty Baby Head Lettuce Mix, grown from Seeds of Change seed by County Line Harvest, one of our trial growers. Looking for a high quality alternative to the ubiquitous mesclun mix on the market, Paula created a special lettuce blend for discriminating chefs. Selecting from the unique textures, colors, and shapes of our Seeds of Change lettuces, she developed a mixture that has great flavor, holds up well, and offers complimentary shades and shapes that make an exquisite presentation on a plate. The Greenleaf mix was showcased and sampled at the open house and is now being served in several of San Francisco's finest restaurants.

Melons at the peak of season offer unsurpassed fragrance and flavors of summer. Tasting Seeds of Change melons, grown by Knoll Farm, Seven Seeds Farm, and the University of California at Davis Student Farm was a highlight of the open house. More than just sweet, a great melon has subtle undertones, balanced flavors, and a heady aroma. Several of our specialty melons were a hit, eliciting recipe suggestions along with ooh's and ahh's. Executive Chef John Kane of the University Club was enamoured by our Stutz melon and seriously disappointed when he discovered that they were currently unavailable through Greenleaf. As a consolation we sent him home with a 10 lb Stutz which he excitedly planned to serve as a melon relish over halibut that evening. Other favorites of the tasting included our Swan Lake melon for its perfumy aroma, attractive yellow skin and workable 1-2 lb size and our Sharlyn for its tart, tropical flavor and refreshing light green and peach flesh.

Baby greens have become almost a work of art, offering intricate detail, delicate textures, and mild exclamations of flavor. Stuart Dixon of Heirloom Organics proudly presented pristine, micro-green size harvests of his favorite Seeds of Change gourmet greens trialed on his farm this summer. The chefs admired his miniature, very tender baby Red Russian Kale, peppery baby Persian Garden Cress, vibrant tangy Ruby Orach, and zesty scalloped Shingiku Chrysanthemum greens. Several chefs left with samples to experiment with. That night Scott Vlaun, Seeds of Change editor and photographer, and I encountered our Persian Garden Cress and Ruby Orach served as accents over seasonal dishes at Café Andree. Chef Jim Jardine of Café Andree serves an eclectic menu of self-described French-South American style cusine.

Always on the cutting edge, Stuart Dixon also presented his miniature, heirloom baby Acorn winter squash which offers a firmer texture and more savory flavor than summer squash in a presentable 2-inch size and the classic Acorn shape. Jessie Cool, owner of the Flea Street Café and Jesse's Cool Eats, raved about Stuart's squashes and commented she's been serving them sautéed or roasted with butter and herbs.

The highlight of the event for me was sampling our varieties with Liz Milazo, farm manager of Green Gulch Farm, and Annie Sommerville, head chef of the Greens Restaurant. It was inspiring to watch the interaction between a grower and a chef with mutual respect and a good working relationship. Green Gulch has long provided much of the produce for the Greens restaurant and has been an excellent cooperating trial location for our Seeds of Change variety trials. We sampled our America Spinach, grown by Green Gulch and discussed how similar it is to the flavor of Bloomsdale, one of Annie's favorites, but as Liz has seen, it is as vigorous in the field as the standard hybrid variety.

Although chefs and growers live in very different worlds, they hold a common admiration for beautiful, flavorful produce and exceptional varieties. When they work together, as many do in the Bay Area, a special relationship develops where the art of cultivation and the art of cuisine meet. At Seeds of Change we are excited to have the opportunity to offer chefs and growers a broad range of varieties, from a rainbow of chiles to sundry textures and colors of lettuce. We extend many thanks to Greenleaf for facilitating this opportunity to engage in the produce community and share our favorite Seeds of Change varieties.